Bicycles are particularly prone to theft as their workings are necessarily exposed and in many cases designed to be disassembled quickly without special tools. Their weight limits and need for streamlining make the problem even more difficult to solve. A variety of proposals have been made which appear on the Internet including use of the removable seat post and seat combination as a frame lock in combination with the handle bars. Another attached a retractable locking cable to the seat post for storage. In use the seat and post are removed, the cable extended around a secure object and then locked back on the retraction mechanism. Yet another attaches a clamp to the outside of the seat post which can be secured directly to the bicycle frame.
A variety of US pending patent applications 2008/0309130 published 2008 Dec. 18 and USPPA 2010/0187868 2010 Jul. 29 by Livne show a bicycle lock mechanism which is stored when not in used between the seat post and the seat with its components below the seat itself. Livne issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,581,787 in 2009. This provides a complex set of extra components which essentially replaces the top of the typical seat post with the lock assembly. Components extend forward of the seat and detract from the utility of the bicycle at a critical juncture.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,251,464 and 7,104,091 issued in 1993 and 2006 respectively show a retractable reel of locking cable secured to a bicycle seat post.
US published patent application 2009/0078009 published Mar. 26, 2009 shows a separable frame component used for a cable lock.
None of the prior art items have effectively provided a secure and storable bicycle locking mechanism which does not interfere with the bicycle when in use, is light weight, uses existing bicycle components and is readily stored.